Abstract:Rice was selected as the research subject, and hyperspectral reflectance data of the rice canopy within the range of 400~1000nm was collected experimentally. To preprocess this data, the Savitzky-Golay smoothing method was applied, followed by the successive projections algorithm (SPA) to identify characteristic wavelengths. Based on the processed spectral data, an extreme learning machine (ELM) model optimized by the non-dominated sorting whale optimization algorithm (NSWOA) was developed to estimate the nitrogen content in the rice canopy. To evaluate its performance, the NSWOA optimized ELM model was compared with a traditional back propagation neural network (BPNN) and a standard ELM model. The results indicated that the characteristic wavelengths identified by the SPA algorithm were 400nm, 440nm, 487nm, 542nm, 589nm, 660nm, 675nm, 739nm, 766nm, 808nm, 878nm, 912nm and 949nm. The NSWOA-ELM model based on reflectance at these selected wavelengths performed best, achieving a determination coefficient (R2) of 0.8593 for the training set and 0.8543 for the validation set, with root mean square errors (RMSE) of 0.2002mg/g and 0.2069mg/g, respectively. Compared with the BPNN and standard ELM models, the NSWOA-ELM model demonstrated superior predictive accuracy and model stability. In conclusion and generalization, the NSWOA-ELM rice canopy nitrogen inversion model provided a reliable approach for assessing rice growth conditions and supporting precision fertilization strategies.